His Frankenstein's Monster
by Snowsgirl
Summary: Sort of an alternate to the whole Stein arc thing. Before the professor disappeared, he kept a log on his computer keeping track of his personal thoughts. This time, something changes, and instead of going with Medusa, Stein tears off on his own. In order to find the key to his whereabouts, Marie needs to find what he's written before it's too late. English terms used.


**Month XXX Day XXX**

_I have to admit, ever since the battle underground, I haven't been feeling well. I'm sure Spirit suspects as much by now, but I can't let him, or anyone else, know what's really starting to happen._

_Some time has passed since then. One of the girls who went to the DWMA around the same time as I did is my partner again now. I can see why Lord Death chose her. She seems to have a rather calming effect somehow... But lately I've been feeling worse despite that._

_I don't blame Marie for being unable to keep me under control. That responsibility has been mine alone to begin with. The problem is that I'm getting worse. Something that's had a hold on me my whole life is starting to drag me down now, all at once. I'm beginning to feel like I'm suffocating._

* * *

As long as anyone could remember, Stein had always been the odd one out.

He was brilliant, everyone knew. All of his teachers thought so. However, grades were largely unimportant to him. He never did well in class, and he and his partners very often had remedial lessons. A very arrogant child, he never felt the need to take the full blame for that.

Another thing was that although Stein was Spirit's first meister, Stein had many partners before him.

It was hard to say why anyone agreed to become his partner at all. Everyone knew there was something wrong with him, though not many could actually name the uncomfortable air about him. The only thing they knew was that every time he took an interest in a weapon, he wouldn't relent until he had a chance to try them out for himself. Soon afterwards, though, the two would go back to their usual arrangements, as if they had never been a team at all.

The thrill of learning to use a new weapon sent chills down his spine every time, and he was gathering valuable information he would need in the future with each practice. For him, it was more about finding the right kind of weapon than the right kind of partner. After all, he didn't need to worry about matching wavelengths with his partner. It was a waste of time if he couldn't find a weapon he enjoyed using.

He'd tried whatever he could get his hands on. Swords, lances, daggers, staves, scythes, even more spiritual weapons that were capable of more than just close range attacks.

He never kept one partner for very long. What was odd though, was more often than not, he was the one to break it off, not the weapon.

Then there was her. Close range weapons were most common, with different kinds of blades being in the top percentage, but this girl was a bit different. She wasn't like a sword or as cumbersome and hard to manage as a scythe. She was a hammer.

Stein had never considered that a possibility before. A hammer as a weapon? That was an unusual idea. The more he considered it, the better it sounded. He just had to have a try, if only just once.

"Hello," murmured Stein, sliding into the seat in the cafeteria across from the girl. "I've seen you in class, and I was wondering if you currently have a meister? It looks like I'm alone at the moment."

The girl paused in eating her lunch, looking across at Stein. He was unusually small for his age, and indeed, it wouldn't be until some time after his graduation that he would shoot up like a weed, but that wasn't what she was trying to assess.

To be honest, she found his unique look to be somewhat attractive, in a weird way, but she knew to be wary of him. Everyone knew.

"Franken?" she asked, blinking as she set aside her cutlery. "You're asking to be my partner?"

"Please, just call me Stein," he sighed, seeming almost weary. He hated that name. What sort of parent named their child after a shady character like that? Of course it wasn't an unfair comparison, but still. What kind of name was Franken anyway? "And not exactly. I'm asking for a trial period. Nothing I've tried so far is working out for me."

"Alright, Stein," she murmured, giving a small smile. "My name is Marie. Marie Mjölnir."

He gave a small nod. "Yes, I know."

Marie paused. That was it? Didn't he have anything else to say? And what was he looking at? She blinked when she realized how closely he seemed to be studying her, then moved her hand to her left eye, frowning slightly. "Sorry... Is something wrong?"

It wasn't that at all. He was trying to get a reading from her, nothing more, but that did draw his attention to her looks rather than what actually mattered to him.

She had a discolored eye. The right one was a soft caramel color, which he guessed was pleasant enough to look at, but looking to the left one, it was a bit off. More than a bit, actually. The left eye was a soft blue, with a dark splotch of the same caramel color in the bottom right section of the iris.

"Heterochromia iridum," he mumbled, thinking aloud. "That's what it's called, isn't it? I didn't notice it until you pointed it out, actually."

Marie frowned slightly, but nodded. "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but what were you looking at a second ago? I thought you were staring at my eyes..."

"Not at all." Stein gave a small snort, then tapped his own eyes gently, smirking at her. "I was reading your soul wavelength. I hope you don't think I'm being too intrusive."

She seemed slightly caught off guard by his answer, staring at him in awe. "Seriously? You mean you can see my soul? What does it look like?"

He gave a small shrug at that. "What most souls look like, I guess. I'm only just starting to use it to my advantage, so I haven't had a lot of time to figure out which traits mean what, but I can take a guess, if you'd like."

Marie smiled and nodded again, grinning. "Go on! I want to hear what you think."

Stein gave a small sigh, rolling his eyes at the girl. "Fine, fine. Whatever makes you happy, I guess."

She leaned forward with interest, pushing the remainder of her lunch aside.

"Keep in mind that I'm not really an expert on this," he said, frowning slightly. "With that in mind, I'll give it a try anyway."

She gave a small nod. "It's just for fun, right?"

Sighing, Stein nodded slightly, then began focusing on the soul once again, frowning. "It's, um... very bright, actually. It's definitely a strong-willed soul. Very brave, too. Maybe a bit reckless, even..."

Marie blinked, taking in what he'd said, then nodded. "Well, I suppose so. Um, but there's a small problem with us partnering up..."

"And what's that?" asked Stein, frowning.

"I'm not very good at transforming," she admitted, looking guilty as she played with one of her braids. "I mean, I've done it in the past, but that's why I don't have a partner is because my abilities have always been pretty unreliable and... I really need practice, basically..."

Stein paused for a moment, glancing at her to be sure if he'd heard her right. "...You're completely serious?"

"Well... yeah. Sorry if this isn't going to work out," she mumbled, looking at him apologetically.

"Uh... Well, don't worry about it, I guess. You can't get any better without practice, right?" he said, shrugging. "And anyway, like I said, this is just a test to see if we can work together. If it doesn't work out, you'll have to find someone else."

"I guess so," smiled Marie, nodding, though she sounded only slightly disappointed. "So you still want to give it a shot? I promise, I'm hardworking. There's just a few bugs I need to work on a bit... but I'll do my best, okay?"

Stein gave a small snort. "Yeah, alright. Let's be partners."

* * *

_My first partnership with Marie didn't last very long. None of mine ever did. For the first time, though, I wasn't the one to break it off. That wasn't the last time it happened, either. The second time, I wasn't surprised at all that it wasn't working out._

_I actually liked having Spirit as a partner. I don't think very many people recognize that. But I guess when you experiment on your weapon in their sleep for five years, your partnership is doomed to fail from the beginning. Honestly, I'm surprised he didn't notice before. He's what some might call "lovably dumb," but __I prefer to call it "blissfully unaware and _almost_ dangerously stupid." Still, he's not a bad guy._

_I'm getting off track again. Sorry, I'm having trouble thinking with clarity lately. Not even cranking this damn bolt works anymore. Everything is... fuzzy._

_I guess it's my fault for being so reckless with my body. I can't help it, though. These stitches are proof of my questionable sanity. Sometimes I still wake up in terror in the middle of the night from a dream I had, clutching and clawing at the threads until they come undone, and I'm forced to sew them shut once again. _

_Most people probably can't imagine doing a thing like operating on their own bodies... and to be honest, when I was young I'd never even considered it. It's nothing to me anymore, since my body requires a bit of maintenance because of my experimenting, but back then I never thought of using myself as a test subject. Why would I?_

_All the subjects I could ever want were right there at the academy._


End file.
